2020 Pinot Gris

SOLD OUT. Our most popular white wine is rich and vibrant, with great texture and mouthfeel.

“Fragrant white flowers on the nose followed by layers of creamy pear, summer melon, lemon cream pie, and hints of fresh cut herbs.”

– Slow Wine Guide USA (June, 2022)

“This is a sappy, substantial, deeply fruited wine that packs in pink grapefruit, lemon curd, tangerine and papaya flavors, buoyed by tangy acidity. While delicious already, there’s little doubt it can age gracefully over the next half decade.”

– Wine Enthusiast (November, 2021)

“A perennial steal, this wine from Oregon’s Elk Cove estate packs in a lot of nectarine and citrus flavors before wrapping up with a firmly mineral finish.”
– Food & Wine (January, 2022)

Vintage

VINTAGE 2020 was a challenging vintage with nicely concentrated wines. The COVID-19 outbreak brought labor and safety challenges that we overcame in step with increased seasonal demands in the vineyard and cellar. Luckily our vines are 6 feet apart and well suited for social-distancing, but creative solutions saved the day – we even recruited our sales team for our harvest crew.

Cool, wet conditions in spring led to a 25% lighter than average fruit set with small clusters and berries, ideal conditions for flavor intensity. Summer brought steady heat and cool nights, increasing our expectations for a fantastic vintage across the board here in the Willamette Valley. Then, in August and September, Oregon experienced one of its worst wildfire seasons in history, bringing with it worries of smoke-affected fruit. Ripening slowed until the winds shifted eastward and the skies cleared in mid-September.

The silver lining for Elk Cove is that our vines are located in the northwest corner of the Willamette Valley, where smoke effects were minimal. We will not release any wines that exhibit smoke taint, and have aggressively tested for it. We sent a great many samples to the laboratory in 2020. We’re confident that we made some fantastic wines from intensely concentrated fruit.

Vineyard

Our Pinot Gris is hand-harvested from select hillside vineyards in the northern Willamete Valley. Pinot Gris has long been a focus at Elk Cove – our Estate Vineyard boasts some of the oldest Pinot Gris vines in Oregon, dating back to 1985. Three of our other estate vineyard sites are also planted with Pinot Gris, including 50 acres on steep sloped Mount Richmond Vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA. Planted in a high-density format, all our Pinot Gris undergoes shoot and crop thinning for low yields to maximize quality and concentration.

Winemaking

The Willamette Valley has the perfect climate for this delicate cool weather white wine. We have enough sunlight and warmth for ripening, but our cool evenings help retain varietal character and prevent over-ripening. We whole-cluster press our Pinot Gris grapes, then ferment the juice at very cool temperatures in small stainless steel tanks. This gentle treatment protects the aromatic qualities and enhances the natural richness of the Pinot Gris grapes, creating our most popular white wine.

Viticultural & Enological Data

Vine Age 4 - 35 years
Harvest Sugars 21.5 Brix
Vatting Whole-cluster pressed and cold fermented in small stainless steel tanks.

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